ALBANY — Lawmakers have reached a tentative agreement on a bill to broaden the state’s definition of banned assault weapons, increase penalties for those convicted of gun crimes and create a statewide registry of assault rifles, people briefed on the draft bill said.

Key lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Independent Democratic Conference leader Jeff Klein said they were “hopeful” and “confident” that a vote would be held Monday — a rapid move toward consideration that requires a special “message of necessity” from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who has been pushing lawmakers to act quickly on a gun control package.

Silver, D-Manhattan, said the legislation would adjust the definition of a banned assault rifle so that any single characteristic — a telescoping stock, a bayonet attachment, a pistol grip — on a semi-automatic rifle qualifies it to be banned. Existing weapons would be grandfathered in, Silver said, but their ownership could not be transferred. A statewide registry of these guns would be created, Silver said, and the county-by-county process for issuing handgun permits would also be standardized.

At the urging of Republicans in the Senate, the bill will also stiffen penalties for people who use guns criminally, Klein said. It would also include an expansion of mental health providers’ ability to commit those found to be a danger to the public — another GOP priority — known as “Kendra’s Law.”

“This is an issue that shows we can work together,” said Klein, D-Bronx. “Republicans, it’s very clear, wanted harsher criminal penalties for illegal guns, which is something that I agree with. But on the other hand, we’re also going to ban assault weapons and limit the number of rounds in a magazine. Putting those together makes it a better bill.”

Silver said the maximum capacity of an ammunition magazine would be reduced to seven rounds, from 10, and that a current exemption for clips manufactured before 1994 would be removed.

Legislators will review the proposed outline of legislation in their private party conferences Monday afternoon. In order for vote to be taken on Monday, the package would require a “message of necessity” from the governor that would eliminate the need for the usual three-day “aging” period for bills. Cuomo and lawmakers took heavy criticism last March, when they passed numerous significant items in a late-night session that made extensive use of such shortcuts.

The biggest hurdle may be Republicans in the state Senate who comprise the chamber’s governing coalition along with Klein’s five-member IDC. A spokesman for Senate Republicans did not immediately say what his conference’s intentions were, but Deputy Republican Leader Thomas Libous said during a morning interview on WGDJ 1300-AM that some type of legislative action was “inevitable,” and that Democrats, though split into two factions, outnumber his fellow Republicans in the chamber.

“As we speak, it’s not done,” Libous, R-Binghamton, said. “There are a lot of things here that, I think, true second amendment believers are going to have some issues with … Liberals feel a very certain way when it comes to these things. What we’re doing as Republicans is trying to get pieces in this bill that are going to be, a school safety piece, a Kendra’s law bill.”

It’s unclear whether those provisions would weigh heavily enough for at least some Republicans to support aspects of the bill. But if the GOP agrees to bring a bill to the floor — it shares authority with Klein over what bills come to the chamber’s floor — Democrats acting in unison could provide enough votes for its passage.

“I haven’t seen all the details,” said Sen. Greg Ball, a Republican from Putnam County. “A lot of focus right now … seems to be intense on those that are already obeying the law and pose zero threat, whereas we still have people dying every day from illegal firearms and we still have a mental health system in this country where the violently mental ill and unstable are falling through the cracks. You’re not going to fix that unless you dig into the deeper, harder, details.”

In the wake of the killings in Newtown, Conn., gun control became a major element of Cuomo’s third State of the State address last week. And in a Monday press conference, President Barack Obama said that his gun
control proposals were likely to be ready for introduction later this week.

“The message out there is so clear after Newtown to get us down this road as quickly as possible,” Silver said. “It’s something the people of this state want and it’s an important thing to do. It is an emergency.”

The only remaining sticking point, he said, is how to provide funding for school safety improvements.

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